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World Cup: David Beckham plays down England security breach as fan gets into Three Lions' locker room

June 19, 2010 | 8:28
am

One would have thought that after watching England's tepid display in a 0-0 tie with Algeria in Cape Town, South Africa, that most fans would have wanted to get as far away from the Three Lions as possible.

That wasn't the case for one supporter, who managed to circumnavigate the World Cup's hit-and-miss security procedures Friday night and actually got inside the England locker room.

The English tabloids made much of this on Saturday, but David Beckham, who had a few words with the fan, played down the incident, which occurred shortly after England's Prince William and Prince Henry had visited the players in the locker room.

"Luckily, it was after the princes left," the Galaxy midfielder said, "five or 10 minutes after. Obviously, it's been blown out of all proportion as well. The actual fan literally just walked in very casually and just said something to me and then walked off. There was no scuffle; there was no aggression at all.

"He didn't comment on the performance, he literally walked in [and] said 'hello.'"

The unidentified fan was being sought Saturday -- good luck with that -- and England complained to FIFA about the security lapse. "Security will be tightened so this never happens again," said FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot.

-- Grahame L. Jones, reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa

Photo: Former England captain David Beckham chats with Prince Harry during a British Football Association gathering in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday. Credit: Radu Sigheti / EPA